Language Teaching In India Research Articles

English Language Teaching in India: Challenges and Trends

The ‘English-speaking culture’ is deep-rooted in India and its dominancy initiated when language imperialism started along with the aggressive colonial rule. India is a land of diverse cultures, heritage and languages with about 19,500 regional languages and dialects. Various regional challenges associated with the process of teaching English have been discussed in this paper.

Exploring the Landscape of Teaching and Learning English as a Second Language in India

This systematic review examines the challenges, opportunities, and ways forward for teaching and learning English as a second language in India. The study explores the current landscape of English language teaching in India, considering factors such as policy, curriculum, teaching methodologies, and technology integration. The review identifies the significant challenges learners and teachers face, including linguistic and cultural barriers, inadequate infrastructure, and limited teacher training. The study also highlights the opportunities and potential solutions to overcome these challenges, such as utilizing innovative teaching strategies and digital technologies. Based on the findings, the study suggests a way forward for developing English language teaching in India, emphasizing the need for comprehensive language policies, teacher development programs, and a learner-centered approach

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN INDIA: THE APPROACHES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

The history of language teaching in India has a long tradition. Memorization of vocabulary and translation of sentences often formed the major part of such learning process in the past. In learners of English as a second language are students classified as “limited English proficient” (LEP) because they come from a home where a language other than English is spoken and score at below “Proficiency” on the LAB-R or score at the Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced level of English as measured by the NYSESLAT. Diverse student profiles exist within the overall classification of LEP. There are LEP/ELLs who may be gifted and there are many with a high level of proficiency in their native language. Others may not be able to read or write in their native language because they have had a limited or interrupted formal education in their own country. Finally, there is a population of LEP students who have been identified as having special needs and have been referred for special education services. For ELL/LEP students, it is imperative to make teaching and learning culturally relevant and to enable access to prior knowledge upon which new skills and concepts can be built. It is critical for educators to understand the ways in which students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds profoundly influence their experiences in the classroom. The visual arts enhance language development by offering non-verbal methods for communication and understanding and by providing a platform for students to create mental images. Integrating the arts into language arts and the content areas for ELLs can give students the opportunity to engage in new and varied approaches while gaining positive emotional responses to learning, understanding others and communicating their own ideas.

Socio-cultural Sustainability through Study Material: English Language Teaching in India

Teaching materials are the primary source of input in the language classroom. The potential of English language teaching (ELT) materials to preserves and transmit our culture, value, identity, and language make it significant for socio-cultural sustainability. The materials developed by the National Council of Education and Research Training (NCERT) are far and wide running study materials in primary and secondary schools in India. India exhibits a massive variety of cultures, customs, languages, and religious beliefs. The selection and development of apt materials is, therefore, a matter of serious deliberation. The centrally developed material, despite numerous benefits, often lacks in representing different groups of students, especially the backward and marginalized ones. The contents, in most cases, are representative of the mainstream. Therefore, the study suggests teachers developed supplementary materials to which learners from all the groups can relate. The researcher has taken the context of Jharkhand and illustrates self-developed supplementary materials prepared using contents from learners’ social and cultural backgrounds. The article offers various suggestions on how to develop such materials that could bring socio-cultural equity in the classroom, making a significant contribution to social sustainability.

Innovations in English Language Teaching in India: Trends in Language Pedagogy and Technology

Innovations in English Language Teaching in India: Trends in Language Pedagogy and Technology

On Three Key Problems of Chinese Language Teaching in India—Teachers, Teaching Materials and Teaching Methods

A growing demand of learning Chinese language in India cannot be met for various reasons. The study mainly analyzes the most serious and prominent problems to be solved in the Chinese language teaching in India, which are teachers, teaching materials and teaching methods. Meanwhile, constructive suggestions are put forward accordingly to help Indian learners to learn Chinese language better so as to prompt the development of Chinese language teaching in India and promote the exchanges between China and India.

Coping with the Curriculum: Examining Critical Issues in Assessment of English Language Learners in the Secondary Classrooms of Bengal

In the last few decades there has been a paradigmatic shift in English language teaching all across the world with extensive research being conducted in the planning and preparation of an appropriate language curriculum- one that will address the manifold needs of learners in a given context and time. In the post-Independence phase of English language teaching in India, the necessity of upgrading the existing language curricula and making it at par with global standards was recognized. In West Bengal too, a similar understanding underlined the series of revisions in the syllabus, methodological approach, and development of TLM (Teaching-Learning materials) and assessment of learners, especially after the 1950s. Interestingly, the curricular revision of English in 2011 in the aftermath of the political turnover in the state, overhauled the earlier curriculum with a new functional, communicative approach that led to massive changes (from the primary level through the higher secondary level of school) in the syllabus, course content, methodology and assessment of linguistic and communicative competence of the learners. Replacing the previous mid-term and annual evaluation process, the new curriculum has introduced continuous assessment pattern with special focus on formative assessment.This article traces the evolution in approach and techniques of assessment in the light of changing curricular needs worldwide and then studies the revised assessment approaches adopted in the present curriculum (after the curricular revision in 2011) of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE).

Correlation Between the Usages and the Uses of English Articles in Select Contexts

Barring a few exceptions, English language teaching in India has been synonymous with teaching of grammar and English literature. As a result, the language taught here is more of written kind than spoken. The grammatical rules are more characteristics of written English, hence over-emphasized. The net result is that this approach tends to teach the usages rather than the uses of English required in real lifetime situations. Hence the need for this study entitled ‘A STUDY OF CORRELATION BETWEEN THE USAGES AND THE USES OF ENGLISH ARTICLES IN SELECT CONTEXTS.’ 509 tertiary students pursuing their post-graduation in M.A English Literature at government aided-institutions and private institutions situated in and around the educational district of Coimbatore constituted the sample for the present study. The independent variables included their gender and medium of education at school. The sample thus selected were diagnosed for their capacity for the recognition and the production of articles in select forty contexts and their omissions by means of a researcher-constructed questionnaire. Results obtained were analyzed with‘t’ tests, One – Way ANOVA, Correlation tests and Association tests. Results: The major finding of the study is that ‘Gender’ has a major affiliation in that the competence of the women respondents in recognizing the usages of the select articles in terms of grammatical rules and producing them is strikingly higher than that of their counterparts. Mother Tongue of the respondents has a very significant association with the recognition and the production of the articles selected for this study. In conclusion, the study establishes the correlation between the knowledge of the rules of grammar as usages and their application as uses in real life time situations.

A Study of English Language Teaching in India

A Study of English Language Teaching in India

Teaching in Two Tongues

This article is a sharing of emergent ideas about the potential role of languages in teacher education (TE) programmes in multilingual contexts in India. Languages play a critical role in TE programmes where they shape both the learning as well as the future teaching of prospective teachers. This role acquires particular significance in multilingual contexts, such as those encountered in most Indian settings. We draw upon multiple disciplines to develop a theoretical conception of language and language learning that is both socio-culturally located as well as critical in nature. We contextualise the discussion by describing the situation vis-à-vis languages and language teaching in India. Next, we develop and describe a rationale for adopting a bilingual/multilingual position in TE programmes in India. Finally, we describe a few possibilities for the practice of language teaching. The article should be read as an invitation to further study and dialogue, rather than as a definitive position on the issues addressed.

The Role of Hindi in English Language Teaching in India

In the present paper we have discussed the teaching of English through Hind. English is a foreign language that cannot be easily understood by the students who come from Hindi medium background the task of English language teaching becomes more comfortable and easy if it takes the help of Hindi.

Efficacy and Feasibility of Project-based Learning and Portfolios Assessment in ELT: A Study in the Indian Context

One of the colonial inheritances in Indian education is the testing method. It aims at testing the memory capacity of learners instead of tracking the development of language for effective communicative ability, the capacity of knowledge construction, and critical thinking. English language testing is no exception to this colonial phenomenon since it continues to be largely content-based. Teaching and testing are the two sides of a sheet of paper and therefore inseparable. What is taught can only be tested. Though English language teaching in India has been emphasizing the need for the development of language skills and study skills for the last thirty years or so, not much could be achieved. The same humanist approach coupled with traditional memory testing continues to date though some claims are being made on skills-based teaching and alternative testing methods in some quarters. Either such claims of achievement are desultory or many serious empirical research studies on these healthy practices from the Indian classrooms have not been reported widely to get much-need international attention. With the increased use of ICT in ELT becoming a reality, English teachers can prepare themselves professionally to implement constructvist project-based learning and introduce portfolios as a viable alternative assessment mode. It becomes imperative because the importance of English language skills for communication is internationally acknowledged in the post-globalized world now much more poignantly than ever. The concept of communicative competence and modes of communication have been re- conceptualized. This paper makes an attempt to empirically study the attitude of the college English teachers toward the concept of project-based learning and portfolios as an alternative method of assessment.

Reviews

Books reviewed in Reviews:Paulston, Christina Brett and Tucker, G. Richard, (eds) The Early Days of Sociolinguistics: Memories and ReflectionsHosali, Priya, Nuances of English in India – What the Butler Really SaidAgnihotri, R.K. and Khanna, A. L. (eds), English Language Teaching in India: Issues and Innovations

English language teaching in India: Issues and innovations Ed. by R. K. Agnihotri and A. L. Khanna (review)

English language teaching in India: Issues and innovations Ed. by R. K. Agnihotri and A. L. Khanna (review)

English Language Teaching in India: Issues and Innovations

Introduction - R K Agnihotri and A L Khanna PART ONE: PROBLEMATIZING ELT IN INDIA English Teaching in India - N Krishnaswamy and T Sriraman Past, Present and Future Subjecting English - Rajeshwari Sunder Rajan Resisting Industriality - Probal Dasgupta PART TWO: NATURE OF ELT MATERIALS Teaching Language through Language - Usha Nagpal Literature Bias in Teaching of English as a Second Language - Raja Ram Mehrotra Use of Indian Culture and Myths in ELT - S C Narula The Tailor's Dummy - Ranu V Vanikar and Katayun K Palia The Influence of Cultural Content of ESL Materials on Learner Output PART THREE: LEARNER PROFILES Achievement Levels of English among College Entrants - A L Khanna Needs-Analysis of the Indian Learners of English - Mohammad Aslam Needs of the Indian Undergraduate Learners - S C Sood PART FOUR: CLASSROOM ISSUES Media and Language Acquisition - R Amritavalli A Two-Tier Approach to the Teaching of English at the School Level - Soumini Pananghat Medium of Instruction in a Multilingual Context - Anju S Gupta Classroom Interaction in Different Subject Classes - Karuna Kumar Implications for Bilingual Education Programmes and Curriculum Design in ESL ELT and Grammar Teaching - R P Bhatnagar Grammar, Cognitive Abilities and Second Language Learning - Achla Misri Raina and R K Agnihotri PART FIVE: COURSE EVALUATION AND TEACHER DEVELOPMENT Evaluation of a Mainstream Innovative Language Skills Course - Yasmeen Lukmani Professional Devleopment of Teachers of English - Sunil Kumar Issues and Concerns The Need of ELT Training for College Lecturers - Raj Kumar Khanna PART SIX: CURRICULUM CHANGE Curriculum Change in Process - Prem Mathur The Case of an ELT Project Currents of Change in Teaching of English in CBSE Affiliated Schools - S K Gangal A Background Note Telescoping the Past Six Years of the CBSE-ELT Project - Kiran Bhatt

Review of Agnihotri & Khanna (1996): English Language Teaching in India: Issues and Innovations

Review of Agnihotri & Khanna (1996): English Language Teaching in India: Issues and Innovations

Power and politics in the content of grammar books: the example of India

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the various connections four grammar books [J. Nesfield, Idiom, Grammar, and Synthesis for High Schools (1895); L. Tipping, Matriculation High School English Grammar of Modern English Usage (1933); P. C. Wren and H. Martin, High School English Grammar and Composition (1954); C. D. Sidhu, An Intensive Course in English (1976)] posit between the English language and Indian society. The sentences of Nesfield's text propagate the notion of British supremacy and impose a view of history which justifies colonial rule. It is a view which corresponds to the contemporary conception of English as an imposed foreign language, the language of political domination and a synonym for it. Tipping's position is that English is to be assimilated to the Indian context. The revised edition of Wren and Martin's grammar follows in the Tipping tradition. English is no longer seen as something imposed, but as something in the process of being Indianized. Sidhu's text is radically different from the others. It reveals a familiarity with the way life is experienced in India. Sidhu's grammar proves that English language teaching in India can be taught through and express Indian experiences. In so doing, the English language becomes the opposite of its historical role: a mode of communication which expresses Indians’ consciousness of themselves as citizens of an independent country.